The National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) announced it's offering members IP transit services from both Zayo and Cogent Communications. Since it was founded in 1984, the NCTC has found strength in numbers for its members, and such is the case for the new IP transit services from Zayo and Cogent.
Both partnerships support NCTC's goal of giving its operator membership cost-effective options for delivering broadband services to their consumer and business customers.
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Zayo is a Tier 1 provider with direct connectivity to more than 200 IP points-of-presences (PoPs) and 1,200 data centers. Zayo’s 130,000-mile network in North America and Europe includes metro connectivity to thousands of buildings and data centers.
Zayo announced in May that it agreed to be acquired by affiliates of Digital Colony Partners and the EQT Infrastructure IV fund. That deal is slated to close in the first half of next year.
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"Our new agreement with Zayo gives our member operators access to a globally recognized leader in communications infrastructure," said Rich Fickle, president of NCTC, in a statement "This agreement creates attractive economic benefits for our members at a time when broadband traffic continues to grow at a rapid pace with greater emphasis on low latency, QoS, and reliability. We're building a strong foundation for the business today, and a relationship that allows us to explore ways to work together on applications of new technologies including 5G backhaul, gaming and other emerging opportunities pursued by our members."
Cogent has roughly 840 metropolitan rings in 204 markets and serves 1,750 skyscrapers in North America and 1,200 carrier neutral data centers in 44 countries. With over 57,400 route miles of intercity fiber and more than 33,600 metro fiber miles, Cogent offers its services in North America, Europe and Asia.
"NCTC is excited to bring Cogent's IP Transit product offering to our members," Fickle, said. "Cogent is a recognized leader in the IP Transit marketplace and by working with them, our members can benefit from their extensive IP data network and cost-saving transit offering. NCTC will work to create efficiencies and growth opportunities for Cogent through a common master agreement and a streamlined approach to managing new circuits. Cogent is very focused on excellent execution and being efficient, which aligns well with our members and the NCTC approach."
NCTC's more than 750 small and mid-sized independent cable and broadband operators offer their services in over 3,000 U.S. communities.